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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/22475485">Second Chance</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/carpisuns/pseuds/carpisuns'>carpisuns</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Miraculous Ladybug</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>F/M, Friends to Lovers, Friendship, Hurt/Comfort, Romance, lukagami</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-01-30</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-02-02</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-04-28 11:14:04</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>2</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>3,308</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/22475485</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/carpisuns/pseuds/carpisuns</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>After Kagami and Luka break up with Adrien and Marinette, they find solace in each other's company and grow closer together.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Luka Couffaine/Kagami Tsurugi</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>53</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>144</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>1. New Contact</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>i decided that i'm lukagami trash now so enjoy haha</p><p>basically a lukagami origin story</p><p>This is a continuation of an idea i wrote up in this post:<br/>https://chatnoirinette.tumblr.com/post/189098575391/my-vision-of-season-4-ships</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <em> They sat on a bench under their favorite tree in the park. Kagami looked at her shoes. Her voice was barely a whisper above the breeze. </em>
</p><p>
  <em> “I know you’re in love with someone else,” she said. </em>
</p><p>
  <em> Adrien was quiet. </em>
</p><p>
  <em> Kagami swallowed. “I’ve known for a while now. I thought that if we stayed together, you would forget about her. But the longer I wait, the clearer it becomes that … you’re not going to forget about Marinette.” </em>
</p><p>
  <em> A beat of silence. </em>
</p><p>
  <em> “Marinette?” Adrien repeated. “No—no. She’s just a friend.” </em>
</p><p>
  <em> “No, she’s not,” Kagami said. She lifted her head. “I see the way you look at her. The way you light up when she walks into the room. I hear the way you talk about her. The way your voice brightens when you say her name. I sense the way you feel for her. The way you long for something more than friendship.” </em>
</p><p>
  <em> Adrien mouth fell open slightly. He blinked and stared at Kagami. He looked genuinely surprised. Had he really not realized what was so clear to her?  </em>
</p><p>
  <em> “No,” he said. “I love you, Kagami.” </em>
</p><p>
  <em> “I know,” Kagami said. “But you love her too. And I’m sorry, but I can’t share your love with someone else.” </em>
</p><p>
  <em> “I don’t understand. You have it all wrong. I—” </em>
</p><p>
  <em> “I’m not angry,” Kagami said. “But I deserve better than this. I deserve to have someone’s whole heart.” </em>
</p><p>
  <em> She covered his hand with hers. </em>
</p><p>
  <em> “I thought we were made for each other. We had something beautiful, for a while. But I’m not left with nothing. I learned how to be a friend. I learned how to be open. I learned how to love. You taught me that, Adrien. Thank you.” </em>
</p><p>
  <em> Kagami brushed a kiss on the corner of his mouth. </em>
</p><p>
  <em> “Goodbye,” she whispered. And then she walked away. </em>
</p><p>
  <em> She fought it for as long as she could, but the tears blurred her vision, threatening to spill out of her eyes. Well, if she was going to cry, she was going to do it with her head held high. She lifted her chin and let the tears roll down her cheeks. And she didn’t look back. </em>
</p><p> </p><hr/><p> </p><p>Everything in Kagami Tsurugi’s life was precise and orderly, with crisp edges, outlined and numbered. Everything—including her heartbreak.</p><p>
  <em> Thirty-six days. </em>
</p><p>Thirty-six days ago she had sat on this very bench and said goodbye to the one person she had ever loved.</p><p>Thirty-six days ago, she had broken her own heart.</p><p>She wondered if it was strange or pitiful to keep a count, but she did it automatically, the way she counted her breaths when she meditated or her movements when she exercised. Giving order to her pain made it easier to manage.</p><p>Most days, that sense of order kept her intact. She threw herself desperately back into the routine she had been so eager to discard when she was with Adrien. The tiresome structure of her day became her lifeline. She studied for her classes diligently and completed her homework early. She went to bed on time (now that she didn’t stay up late texting Adrien every night). She excelled in every fencing practice, losing herself in the familiar pattern of <em> swish</em>, lunge, parry, <em> swish</em>, lunge, parry. (Her new fencing partner wasn’t quite as good as Adrien, but she didn’t think she could bear to practice with him like they used to. Not yet, anyway.)</p><p>Despite everything, she managed to get as close to perfect as she could. Her mother had even praised the improvement. </p><p>“Well done, Kagami,” she said after another award ceremony, unaware that underneath her gold medal, Kagami was nearly breaking at the seams.</p><p>After thirty-six days, she expected her heart to have mended somewhat. But even now, when she caught a glimpse of Adrien’s face across the room before he lowered his fencing mask, when her finger hovered over his name in her contact list, when the gleam of the locket he got for her birthday winked at her from her dresser—she could feel it inside her, beating jaggedly and brokenly, like the last desperate breath before defeat.</p><p>On days like today, when she could barely hold it together, she sneaked out and came here, to the park where she had said goodbye. She didn’t know why she came to this place of all places, but it’s where her footsteps lead her every time.</p><p>A breeze picked up and tugged at her skirt, whipped through her hair. Why did she insist on remembering what she was trying to forget? It wasn’t like her to dwell on what she couldn’t fix. If Mother knew she was here, licking her old wounds, she would say—</p><p>“Kagami.”</p><p>Her head snapped up. For a moment, she thought Mother had come to scold her, but it wasn’t her. It was the blue-haired boy. Lucas. No—Luka. Marinette’s boyfriend. What was he doing here?</p><p>“Are you OK?” he asked. “You seem …” He trailed off, his fingers twitching at his sides. Probably itching for a guitar he didn’t have.</p><p>Did he know? Did he know that Adrien was in love with his girlfriend? That Marinette had been in love with Adrien all along? Should she tell him? Did she have the courage to break his heart like she had broken her own? The melancholy bite of the truth felt heavy on the end of her tongue. But she didn’t say it.</p><p>“No,” she said instead. “I’m not OK.”</p><p>“I’m sorry to hear that.” Luka sat down on the bench beside her. “Do you want to talk about it?”</p><p>“No.”</p><p>“That’s OK. I’m comfortable with silence.”</p><p>Kagami didn’t answer, but something inside her quietly seethed under the surface. Why had he come here? Why was he talking to her? They weren’t friends. She barely knew him. And now he was here, reminding her of all the things she didn’t want to remember. </p><p>
  <em> He probably looks at Marinette the same way Adrien does. Like she’s the sun rising in the morning. </em>
</p><p>Kagami glanced at him out of the corner of her eye. He was exactly the type of boy that her mother would never approve of. Dyed hair, earrings, ripped jeans, black nail polish. She’d always thought he was a bit strange.</p><p>But Luka didn’t seem to be aware of what she thought of him, or if he was, he didn’t pay it any mind. He was staring straight ahead, looking as calm as ever, but she couldn’t help but get the sense that he was hurting just like her (although she was never that good at reading people). The glow of the sunset washed over him, turning his hair from blue to orange. She felt the sting of her annoyance fade just like the dying light of the sun, and she melted into the silence between them.</p><p>After a while, he spoke again, his voice as soft as the rustling of the leaves above their heads. </p><p>“Do you want me to leave? I understand if you want to be alone.”</p><p>“No,” she said, a little too quickly. “I—the company is nice, actually.”</p><p>He turned to look at her and smiled. “I think so too.”</p><p>They said nothing else for a long time. Kagami didn’t think. She just sat and watched the sun sink lower and lower in the sky until it settled onto the horizon.</p><p>Finally, Luka stood. “I have to go now. It was nice not talking to you.”</p><p>They both chuckled softly.</p><p>“If you do ever feel like talking, though, I’m a very good listener. I’ll be around, OK?”</p><p>“OK.”</p><p>With a small smile and a wave, he turned to walk away.</p><p>“Wait!” Kagami said. “How will I tell you?”</p><p>In answer, Luka pulled a tiny notebook and a pen out of his pocket. He sat back down beside her and opened the notebook. It was full of tiny doodles and scribbled lines—song lyrics, she guessed. He flipped to a blank page and scribbled something else down that she couldn’t see. Then he ripped out the page and handed it to her.</p><p>“Text me any time,” he said. He left her with one last warm smile, and then he was gone.</p><p>Kagami looked down at the paper. </p><p><em> Luka Couffaine, </em>it read in cramped lettering. Underneath was a telephone number.</p><p>She stared at his name. None of this fit into her usual routine. The balance had been disrupted. And usually when that happened, she found herself very close to tipping over. </p><p>But somehow, she wasn’t afraid of that this time. It was different, but in a good way.</p><p>She typed Luka’s name into her phone and saved his number with her mother’s, Adrien’s, and Marinette’s.</p><p>She smiled. One new contact.</p><p>One new friend.</p><p> </p><p> </p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0002"><h2>2. Orange</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>aaaaaa luka is so hard to write alsdkfjask i hope i portrayed him well enough oof</p><p>thank you marikittynoir, Boogum, and Taliax for helping me with this! ❤️</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <em> It was a sleepy Saturday afternoon when Luka let her go. </em>
</p><p>
  <em> She was lying next to him on his bed, listening to his latest composition. But he could barely play the notes. His fingers were too heavy, his heart like a stone in his chest. He stopped in the middle of a line. </em>
</p><p>
  <em> “Marinette, I know you’re in love with someone else.” </em>
</p><p>
  <em> She sat up. “What? No. I—I’ve moved on from Adrien, I promise—” </em>
</p><p>
  <em> “No, not Adrien. Someone else.” He strummed a gentle chord, not meeting her eyes. “Your friend. The one you’re always talking about.” </em>
</p><p>
  <em> “My … friend?” </em>
</p><p>
  <em> “Yeah. The one who makes you laugh.” </em>
</p><p>
  <em> “I don’t understand,” she said.  </em>
</p><p>
  <em> He rubbed his guitar pick between his fingers. “You’ve never told me his name. And every time I ask about him you brush it off. But when you talk about him … your heart sounds like this.” </em>
</p><p>
  <em> He played a few notes of a different tune—something beautiful and longing and hopeful, like the kiss of a moonbeam on a cool night breeze. It was the way he felt whenever he thought of her. </em>
</p><p>
  <em> But she played that tune for someone else.  </em>
</p><p>
  <em> “I think I have to let you go,” he said softly. </em>
</p><p>
  <em> Marinette’s eyes went wide. “No, Luka, don’t do this. It’s not—it’s not what you think. I’d never—” </em>
</p><p>
  <em> “I know you wouldn’t, but you can’t help the way you feel. And you can’t hide it, either.” </em>
</p><p>
  <em> “Luka, please—” </em>
</p><p>
  <em> “I love you, Marinette.” </em>
</p><p>
  <em> He searched her eyes for an answer to the question he could never bring himself to ask out loud. She stared back at him, opened her mouth, and said nothing. His heart sank to the floor. </em>
</p><p>
  <em> “You’ve never been able to say it back,” he said. “And that’s OK. It will take me a while to get your melody out of my head. But I’ll be alright. I’ll find a new song. And you … you need to listen to the song your heart has been singing this whole time. You need to follow the music.” </em>
</p><p>
  <em> Her eyes were filled with tears. “No, listen, you don’t understand—” </em>
</p><p>
  <em> “Please don’t make this harder than it already is,” he whispered. </em>
</p><p>
  <em> He let her go with a kiss to the forehead. She paused in his doorway and looked back, her cheeks stained with tears. </em>
</p><p>
  <em> “I’m sorry. I’m so sorry.” </em>
</p><p>
  <em> With a stifled sob, she closed the door. And then she was gone. </em>
</p><p> </p>
<hr/><p> </p><p>The music in Luka’s head wouldn’t stop.</p><p>It was there when he woke and it was there when he slept—the same melody, on repeat, ringing in his blood and pounding in his heart.</p><p>Her song. Marinette’s.</p><p>He tried to force it out or push it down or cover it up, but nothing worked. His fingers, so desperate to play something else, <em> anything </em>else, always found the same tune, hour after hour and day after day. The notes were seared so deeply into his brain that he could hum them in his sleep (and probably did). And even after all this time, they showed no sign of fading.</p><p>Some days, it was almost enough to drive him mad.</p><p>He remembered the day, just a week after, that he was interrupted by a timid knock on his cabin door.</p><p>“Are you OK?” Juleka mumbled. “You’ve been playing the same song for two hours.”</p><p>He gripped the guitar tighter. “It’s Marinette’s song.”</p><p>“Oh.”</p><p>She closed the door and left him once again alone with nothing but an unchaseable melody.</p><p>
  <em> Maybe I was wrong to give up on us. Maybe it was a mistake to let her go. Maybe if I’d waited longer, she would’ve loved me. </em>
</p><p>His fingers slipped on the fret, and a clashing chord rang horribly in his ears. He groaned through gritted teeth and squeezed his eyes shut, clenching down on the neck of the guitar. Even the discordant notes didn’t make it stop. Her melody was a tattoo on the inside of his brain.</p><p>But … that day, at the park with Kagami, for the first time in nearly a month, it was quiet. It felt like the pause between songs on an album. He knew the next one was coming, but for a moment, there was silence. There was calm.</p><p>He carried that feeling with him all the way home, cradling it like it might shatter if he weren’t careful. Back in his cabin, with the door closed, he picked up his guitar and played a chord—a different chord, separate from Marinette’s song. And he breathed, deep and slow, for the first time since she had gone.</p><p> </p>
<hr/><p> </p><p>Over the next few days, he worked on a new song. Marinette’s melody was still there, but it was quieter now—not so commanding.</p><p>The memory of the evening at the park was still fresh in his mind. He let himself explore it with the strings of his guitar— a feeling as soft as a shadow, as firm as a stone. His fingers stumbled and struggled to find the notes, but he closed his eyes and tried to lose himself in that moment: the tree, the bench, the orange glow, the white silence. But still, something was missing.</p><p><em> Ding</em>. </p><p>Luka’s eyes snapped open. The lockscreen of his phone lit up with a new message.</p><p>
  <em> Hello.  </em>
</p><p>He picked it up.</p><p><em>L: hi,</em> <em>may i ask who this is?</em></p><p>
  <em> K: Kagami Tsurugi. </em>
</p><p>
  <em> L: hey, Kagami! what’s up? </em>
</p><p>
  <em> L: did you want to talk?  </em>
</p><p>
  <em> K: Yes. </em>
</p><p>
  <em> K: Do you like orange juice? </em>
</p><p>
  <em> L: ha, sure </em>
</p><p><em> K: There is a smoothie shop on Boulevard Saint-Germain. </em> <em> T</em><em>he orange juice is very good. </em></p><p>
  <em> L: nice- want to meet there? </em>
</p><p>
  <em> K: Yes. </em>
</p><p>
  <em> L: when? </em>
</p><p>
  <em> K: I am free at 3:00 PM tomorrow. </em>
</p><p>
  <em> L: sounds good. see you there </em>
</p><p>
  <em> K: Thank you. </em>
</p><p><em> L: </em>👍</p><p>Luka closed his eyes and strummed a few more chords. There was something about this new song. He wasn’t quite sure what it was, but it was something. And he was determined to figure it out.</p><p> </p>
<hr/><p> </p><p>Luka swung off his bike and parked it outside of the smoothie shop.</p><p>Kagami was already sitting in the corner, back straight and hands folded neatly. Two glasses of orange juice sat on the table in front of her, untouched.</p><p>“Hey,” he said as he plopped into the seat opposite her. He set his guitar case on the floor and propped a foot onto it.</p><p>“You’re late.”</p><p>Luka shrugged. “Only by a few minutes.”</p><p>“Seven minutes. I’ve been waiting here for thirteen.”</p><p>“Oh … well, sorry.”</p><p>“I already got the orange juice.”</p><p>“I can see that.” A smile tugged at the corners of his mouth.</p><p>“You owe me four Euros. And forty cents.”</p><p>He dug in his pocket and placed the change on the table. “What did you want to talk about?”</p><p>She stared at him for a second. But then her gaze shifted to something behind him.</p><p>“You rode here?” she asked.</p><p>“Yeah. I was on my way back from a delivery.”</p><p>“A delivery? What do you deliver?”</p><p>“Pizza.”</p><p>“Oh.” She clutched at her glass of orange juice but didn’t take a sip.</p><p>“Are you OK?” he asked. “What did you want to tell me?”</p><p>Her amber eyes caught his, holding him in place. They were sharp like a knife. He could almost feel the sting of whatever she was holding back. His body tensed.</p><p>“You won’t like what I have to say,” she said.</p><p>“Try me.” He grabbed his glass and took a swig through the straw, trying to stay composed.</p><p>Kagami took a breath. “I broke up with Adrien.”</p><p>“Oh. I’m sorry.”</p><p>“Because … he was in love with someone else.”</p><p>Luka looked down at the table. He was pretty sure he knew where this was going.</p><p>“Marinette,” she said. “Adrien is in love with Marinette.”</p><p>“I see.”</p><p>He swallowed and looked back up at Kagami. Her gaze was softer now, softer than he’d ever seen it.</p><p>He mustered a weak smile. “So he finally noticed, huh?” </p><p>“Noticed what?”</p><p>“How amazing Marinette is.”</p><p>Pain flashed across Kagami’s face. Luka felt it, sharp as a bite.</p><p>“I’m sorry,” he said quickly. “I didn’t mean to offend. Sometimes, I … I have trouble saying what I mean.” His foot tapped nervously on top of his guitar case. </p><p>Kagami said nothing. She just stared into her glass as if the orange juice held all the answers.</p><p>He sighed. “If it’s worth anything, I know how you feel. I broke up with Marinette about a month ago, for the same reason. She’s … in love with someone else.”</p><p>“Adrien,” Kagami said softly.</p><p>He didn’t answer. Maybe Marinette was still in love with Adrien. Probably. But there was that other boy too. Her mysterious friend whose name he didn’t  know. She loved him too. He was sure of it.</p><p>Luka twisted his bracelets around and around on his wrist. Marinette was in love with two boys. And neither of them was him. She had never loved him, not really, not fully. Not the way he had loved her. The way he still loved her.</p><p>The familiar ache yawned wide in his chest, and the music in his head threatened to split him open, raw and bleeding in front of all these strangers and this girl who was practically a stranger too.</p><p>But no. She wasn’t. Because the way she was looking at him told him that she knew. She understood, maybe better than anyone.</p><p>He took another gulp of juice.</p><p>“I’ll be happy for her if they end up together,” he said finally. The words hung in the air between them, feeling empty even to him. Maybe they were true when he said them before, but now, coming from his hollow chest, they had no more substance than one of XY’s phony remixes.</p><p>“Actually, no,” he whispered. “I won’t be happy. Not for a while.”</p><p>“Me neither.”</p><p>There was a long pause. Kagami finally took a drink and then put her glass down with a <em> clank</em>. “This sucks.”</p><p>Luka nearly snorted orange juice up his nose. It was a perfectly normal thing to say, but hearing it come from Kagami, with her neatly pressed clothes and her stiff-backed posture and her shiny hair without a strand out of place, he couldn’t keep from laughing. </p><p>“What’s so funny?” she asked.</p><p>Luka was still chuckling softly. “You’re a surprising person, Kagami.”</p><p>She narrowed her eyes. “Is that a good thing or a bad thing?”</p><p>“It’s a good thing. And thanks.”</p><p>“For what?”</p><p>“For understanding. It really does suck.”</p><p>For the first time since he entered the shop, she smiled. It was the barest hint of a smile, with her lips just slightly lifted at the corners, but it was a smile, and it erased all of her sharp edges and made her whole face go soft.</p><p>Later that night, with the light of the moon streaming through the porthole in his cabin, Luka remembered that smile. Bittersweet, he thought. Like a lemon. No—like an orange.</p><p>Orange light, orange juice, orange girl.</p><p>He took out his notebook and scribbled a title at the top of the page where he had been planning the new song.</p><p>
  <em> Orange. </em>
</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>ok i originally intended to continue this to show their whole relationship developing but this has just been sitting there lol so i've decided to call it done. i may come back to it eventually but for now this will just show the very beginning of the relationship and you can imagine how it will continue haha. thanks for reading &lt;3</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
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